Jessie's Cafe by Nancy M Bell

 

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Hello, Usually I would use one of my book covers as the image, but I wanted to share this old building with you as it will figure prominently in my next book. This is Jessie's Cafe on main street in Castor, Alberta. This building has a long and storied life being built in the early 1900's when the railway was coming to Castor from Stettler and beyond. It is now empty having been many things in it's past including  a great place to have coffee and gossip, excellent Chinese cuisine and the upper floor was a boarding house in the far distant past. It was once known as The Golden Crown in later years (note the 'crowns' on the corners of the roof) There is even an outhouse on the flat roof of the cement block addition at the back of the building for the use of the boarders. I kid you not!

Jessie's Cafe is the working title of the new book and will involve some time travel and some interesting twists and turns. Stay tuned, Jessie's Cafe is due out in May of 2026.

Here for your viewing pleasure is the outhouse on the roof of Jessie's Cafe. Bet it was a might chilly in the winter. 

Until next month, stay well, stay happy.

A Bit About Plot by Janet Lane Walters #BWLAuthors #MFRWAuthors #Plot #Phone Call #Voice From Past

 

I've recently had several ideas and had to decide which kind of plot to use.  The History Author's Snuff Boxes was the idea.

Snuff boxes were popular years ago and people used the to carry snuff with them so they could take a sniff when they wanted. I looked at many and saw they were small and sometimes very beautiful. At first I thought a historical story particularly in the Regency period would be the setting. But I didn't really want to put snuff boxes into a story and for them not to be the focus. That eliminated one kind of plot.

Remember this. A plot is just a plan to take a story from the beginning to the end. Something I've heard many times since I began writing.

I looked at other kinds of plots. Contemporary romance. I didn't think snuff boxes would work. Not would, at least for me, paranormal. Not fantasy or science fiction.

Actually as I considered how to use the snuff boxes, I could probably figure a way to put them into most genres. Then one hit me and seemed to be the way for snuff boxes to be featured in my book.

At the present time, the idea is swirling in my thoughts adding bits of ideas that will eventually become the book I've dreamed of. Not until I finish the book I'm currently working on - a medical romance at present called A Voice From Her Past triggered by a phone call I received from a friend I hadn't seen or heard from for years.

The sailing adventure continues, by J.C. Kavanagh

 

Click on the link below to purchase this award-winning series!

https://www.bookswelove.net/kavanagh-j-c/

The Murray Canal - anyone know about this place in Ontario, Canada?

I knew very little about this Canal until I began my sailing adventure from Georgian Bay, Ontario, on our way to the Bahamas. Me and my partner, Ian, are sailing on our Beneteau 423, which weighs roughly about 20,000 lbs fully loaded and has a draft of five-and-a-half feet (that means our cast iron keel measures 5.5' below the boat's water line. Oh and the keel itself weighs about 6,000 lbs or 2650 kg.) 

But getting to the Bahamas is no easy feat. There is much planning to do! Because our sailboat has a deep draft, we are not able to travel on the Trent-Severn Canal which is the quickest route from Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario. Instead, we have to travel north on Georgian Bay then south on Lake Huron, through the St. Clair River to Lake St. Clair, then continue south on the Detroit River to Lake Erie, then east to the Welland Canal. From there we reach Lake Ontario and head east to the Bay of Quinte and the Murray Canal. This little trip takes us 650 nautical miles around three of the five Great Lakes. If we took the Trent-Severn Canal, we would have saved 550 nautical miles of travel. 

The Murray Canal

As early as 1796, plans for the canal were proposed and a total of five surveys were undertaken: in 1824, 1833, 1837, 1845, 1866 and 1881. Finally, in 1882, construction of the canal began and was completed in 1889. It is located between the Bay of Quinte and Presqu'ile Bay on Lake Ontario and is approximately 8 kms in length (5.5 miles). It was named after Sir George Murray, a British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in what was then called Upper Canada. The canal provided a 'safer' shipping route as it shortened the journey around the dangerous shores off the peninsula of Prince Edward County. When I say 'safer,' I also mean safe from the threat of war with the United States (check out the history of the Empire Loyalists). The seven-year project cost $1,272,500 to build, which is approximately $32.6 million in today's dollars.

Me at the helm, travelling through the Murray Canal

Our adventure to the Bahamas continues! And, if you're looking for summertime, adventurous books to read, look no further than the award-winning Twisted Climb series. As one reader wrote in a five-star review, "the series would be perfect for a movie!"

Stay safe and don't forget to tell the ones you love that you love them :)

J.C. Kavanagh, author of

The Twisted Climb - A Bright Darkness (Book 3) Best YA Book FINALIST at Critters Readers Poll 2022
AND
The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends (Book 2) voted BEST Young Adult Book 2018, Critters Readers Poll and Best YA Book FINALIST at The Word Guild, Canada
AND
The Twisted Climb,
voted BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers Poll
Voted Best Local Author, Simcoe County, Ontario, 2021
Novels for teens, young adults and adults young-at-heart
Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh
www.amazon.com/author/jckavanagh
Instagram @authorjckavanagh

The Joy of Dialogue by A.M. Westerling

 

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The Joy of Dialogue

 

            Recently, I had one of those A-HA moments. You know the ones, where you feel as if you have been bopped over the head with a big foamy hammer. And my epiphany?

 

Dialogue is my friend.

 

            Oh, how I used to fret and fuss over dialogue, agonizing over every word, forcing out sentence after sentence.  Introspection, back story, no problem. Description? Bring it on. But dialogue? It was like pulling teeth. Which is probably why my first manuscript had pacing issues. I much preferred to spend my words describing the scenery and clothing than have my hero and heroine actually talk to each other. 

 

But all of a sudden, one day I clued in - dialogue is a very, very powerful tool. Why is that?  Because:

 

1.         It breaks up narrative.  It happens in real time.

 

2.         It presents information. You can use it to tell the back story (one character talking to another.)

 

3.         It develops character. By word usage and slang, you can identify characters.

 

4.         Use it to move the plot along. The characters tell what’s going to happen rather than the author.

 

5.         It can also develop conflict – one character arguing with another.

 

            Now that I have more writing experience, I know how to build a scene with dialogue. Everyone has their own method but for me it is to write the conversation first, then go back and fill in the quotation marks, tags, emotional response, setting, gestures, etc. I might have to go over it a few times until I get the balance that I want but even so, I can write a few pages of dialogue a lot faster than a few pages of narrative.

 

Tips:

 

-       Get to the point – don’t waste time saying hello, talking about the weather, etc.

-       Don’t have the characters call each other by their names – we don’t talk like that in our everyday conversations

-       Identify pet phrases, expletives, etc for your characters – we all have them (see #3)

- If you’re in a public place, listen to people conversing around you.

 

 

A.M. Westerling, a writer of historical romance, is currently working on her tenth book for BWL Publishing and now finds that she can’t get her characters to shut up!!

 

Storytelling Magic

 

Find "I'll Be Seeing You" here

You're never going to kill storytelling, 

because it's built into the human plan. We come with it.
~ Margaret Atwood 

As I complete my third book in my award-winning Navajo Code Talker Chronicles series (All of Me...coming in November), I am, as usual in awe of the power of storytelling. It's the power of the creative spirit... the ability to make something out of nothing that we all possess. We express it in many ways... a well-tended garden, a dance or song, a painting, a family. And it is nothing short of magical.

Our grandson is at an age where he's starting to get the mechanicals behind creating magic. He loved joining his mom to create beautiful illusions to benefit our local Friends of the Library. I enjoyed that spark in his eyes as he pulled a bouquet of flowers from a silk scarf...astonishing even himself. I recognize the same in me as I stand back from a section of dialogue that seems to come from my characters themselves or plot twist that even I didn't see coming. Wow. Moments of magic.

Our young magician

Evan our six-year-old knows that making magic requires craft...presentation, patter, storytelling... and practice, practice, practice with the tools of magic. 

So too for his grandma and her tools of storytelling magic: character development, plotting, dialogue, narration, description... and edit, edit edit!

I hope you'll find the results as pleasing as my grandson's magic!

3 generations of magicians

Book 1

  

Book 2

Book 3